Inclined to TAME
by seshormerow
Summary: Zootopia is at a breaking point of Predator and Prey tensions as the first predator mayoral candidate has been able to get enough donations to enter the race. However T.A.M.E. collars get in the way of his ambitions setting off atrocities from both sides as the city fights over the necessity of predator collars. This is set 30 years before the movie and is Zistopia/Dystopia AU.
1. 30 Days Before Elections

_Inclined to T.A.M.E. is brought to you by: The Corporation for Public Fanfictioning, The Cat T. McArthur Foundation, William T. Barker Foundation, Majority Male Zootopian Redditors Who Enjoy Shipping Foundation, and from mammals like you, thank you._

EERERERER, yo what's up. Inclined to T.A.M.E. is an original story [sarcasm], therefore it is good,[/sarcasm] that I came up with thanks to the wonderful people of /r/Zootopia.

* * *

 **30 Days Before Elections**

I was just getting off from another terrible council meeting. Juggling between the 50 hour work weeks and the campaign has been driving me to drink. I went over to a pay phone and pushed .15 bucks into the slot dialing 345-3112, my campaign manager.

"YAH, HELLO?!" an agitated oryx yelled into the phone.

"It's Leo."

"Oh, sorry, should of known... so how was work session?"

"Same as usual, Swinton was being a serious wank today, god only knows what's on her mind."

"Something gives me the feeling that she's going to come out in support of Bellwether sooner or later."

"Of course, why would anyone question that, Tyke. A prey is going to support another prey. We'll be lucky to even get a single vote from the prey... I'm not so sure about this campaign."

"CHEESE AND CRACKERS LEO HOW MANY TIMES..." Tyke was quiet for a while, "Look, you've seen the polls, we have a chance at this, okay we may only be around 46% but come on we can't stop now."

I put my fist on the wall whispering into the phone, "What if the extortions become public Tyke, we'll be done for after that."

"Don't worry Leo, I-" The phone cut off.

I scrambled to get more change, every phone was occupied. A short line of mammals developed waiting to make phone calls. I looked around as the phone began to ring, hoping they wouldn't get too agitated by my long call.

"God, you're too cheap, it won't hurt you to put .25 bucks in you know."

"Oh, shut up. What were you just saying?"

"LEO, LISTEN TO ME. You know I've done this before. You're getting too paranoid about this."

"Oh you would know."

He breathed heavily into the phone, "You just need to chill, take a day off at least. Don't you, uh, have a partner or something?"

"Now you know I have no time for that crap."

"Oh well okay then... J-just go out and drink or something, BUT HEY, DON'T GET TOO DRUNK, YOU HEAR ME. The last person I was running with went a little too far about every other night."

"Let me guess he was a disaster."

"HE WAS DRUNK, AT ONE OF HIS DEBATES. I was SO READY to quit."

"Don't worry I won't let you down. Well uh, I gotta go. I might go around in some prey neighborhoods tonight. Make some public appearances. Hopefully nothing goes as bad as yesterday."

"Right, yah. Don't get yourself in trouble..."

"Okay bye." I stepped away from the phone, a recognizable sheep was right behind me. The sheep was often on committees relating to city development. She wore a suit, and had heavily trimmed fur all around her body. She, in my opinion was pretty intelligent, others in council didn't think so, but her ideologies matched mine when it came to a lot of things.

"Councilmember Lionheart, how are you today?"

"Oh I've been better..."

"Say, are you doing anything tonight, I'd love to go out for something fun."

"I'm going out for some business tonight, you know, campaigning."

"Oh! Y-you wouldn't mind, if I..."

"Oh, uh, n-no certainly not, I'm going into some prey neighborhoods... I could use a, how do I say it-"

"Friendlier face?" She looked at me with a big smirk.

"Ah, yes... A friendlier face..." I slightly frowned.

"What neighborhoods were you planning on going to?"

"I'm not quite sure, I thought about some around downtown... I've sort of been ignoring it, we've been trying hard to pound the other districts. That's where my worst numbers are. Last night didn't go too well, we might have provoked a protest or something, I couldn't tell. Probably were pro-segregationists, they must not like the idea of a predator running for mayor."

"You want me to be honest with you? Come on let's step over to there." Pointing to a lounge area.

I hesitated, "Oh uh, didn't you have a call to make?"

"Oh no no, It wasn't important. Come, come!" We walked over to a bench and sat down. "Look I don't know how sensitive you are about the tame collars-"

"OH NO, it's uh no big deal... Just a daily thing, you know."

"Well, its something that a lot of prey believe and something that I used to subscribe to..." She paused for a while, I almost said something but she finally blurted it out. "I think a lot prey have the idea that you want to, um, get rid of the shock collars, " she looked incredibly worried about my response.

"When did I ever say that? Boy the ignorance of voters these days is just incredible!"

She looked over at me, "W-well it's not just the voters, I-I overheard a conversation between the Mayor and Bellwether after the council adjourned. They, they want to use it in their campaign."

I was infuriated, I wasn't going to let something as silly as this ruin my entire career. We both sat there for a while. The worst thing about it was the fact that a prey was telling my this.

I got up, "I need to go."

"Wait!"

"Alone, I'm sorry, this is important."

日

Opening the door, it was still bright outside, I had to tell Tyke about this. He just wouldn't believe what was happening. I walked down into the plaza towards the subway station. I could never remember where he lived so I always had a note with me with the station I needed to get off at. Green Line inbound was on track one, then I needed to take the Inner Loop to... Trip Street. As I got further down into the station I could hear the departure melody playing. I stood around for a while hoping another was on its way.

A few minutes later an announcement came up 'High speed commuter train passing through, TRACK FIVE, stand behind yellow line.' An express train could be heard down the tunnel nearing the station with its loud alarm tones.

I took a seat as the train passed through, the Savanna Central station was extremely beat up, it hadn't been renovated since the very early 0200s. You know I could really use that for my campaign, 'Let's fix the trains!', well maybe I could come up of something better. Regardless, how did it never bother me before? I took the trains everyday, maybe its just the thing with Bellwether messing with me.

Sooner than expected the announcement for the next train came. The familiar screech echoed off the walls as the train slowed into the station. 'For, TRACK FIVE, this is a GREEN LINE train headed for PEAK STREET, please wait for smaller mammals before entering the train.'

I got on the second car, it was usually the quietest in the whole train, couldn't explain why, it just always was. The train had no seats left and barely had enough room to stand. Even though it was past 18:00 the trains were still packed. The train lurched forwards, it was one of those trains. The worst kind, they made a terrifying, but almost melodic noise when they accelerated, it sounded like you were in a spaceship. As the train sped up the pitch coming from beneath quickly rose in pitch in steps. Eventually the noise slowly subsided away.

After traveling through multiple stations the loud deep announcement came, 'The next station is, PEAK STREET, PEAK STREET, change here for... INNER & OUTER LOOP, RAINFOREST EXPRESS, ZOOTOPIA LOOP, RED LINE, SMALL MAMMAL EXCLUSIVE, TUNDRATOWN EXPRESS, SAHARA EXPRESS, DOWNTOWN LOOP, ORANGE LINE, LOCAL BUS ROUTES 100 THROUGH 145... and, GONDOLA ROUTES 1-4, please hold on, this train is stopping.' It was like hitting a brick wall, the train lurched and a terrible screech could be heard inside the car. As the train got slower the car began to shake. 'Be aware you are not leaning on a door, doors open on both sides... please wait for smaller mammals before exiting the train. This train departs in FIVE minutes.' The announcement about small mammals was always a female voice, probably added on after the Multi-Proportion Rights Act, MPRA for short. As I walked out of the train a barrage of announcements, noises, and talking made the underground station unbearably loud. I looked at my note again, Inner Loop, Trip Street. I looked around for some signs, a large sign pointed down at a tunnel.

Downtown was completely different from Savanna Central. Downtown was the true mix of the entire population, predator and prey, bad and good, rich and poor. Zootopia despite its known utopian qualities, lost most with integration. Many areas became slums, mammals from all over moved to different areas, neighborhoods completely fell apart and downtown was right in the middle of it.

After a decent walk through the tunnel I finally made it into the Inner Loop station. As soon as I started walking down the platform a train began to enter the station. The loop lines had the nice new trains on them. Perfectly built for mammals of all sizes.

I rode down two stations until the announcement came 'The next station is... TRIP STREET... change here for... LOCAL BUS ROUTES 325-A THROUGH C AND 450... please hold on, this train is about to stop.'

The station was oddly slanted downwards, Trip was decently downhill from Peak so the elevation changes in the area were jirastic. As I walked out of the station I looked again at the note. "Okay 35th & Trip he's in 'Orlandria' 34 35th Street #82 just two blocks." Walking from the station the traffic wasn't too heavy. Pedestrians were scattered here and there, completely opposite to the city center.

When I made it to 35th Street, looking up at the street sign the 30 block was to the left. Four buildings down I finally made it to Tyke's building. His building was, let's say, okay. It wasn't the nicest but it was at least 'liveable'. The rooms were pretty sizeable but some mammals in the building were not the greatest. I got to the elevator conveniently already on the first floor and pressed for the eighth. Slowly the elevator made its way up as it rattled and made some concerning noises. #82 was right across from the elevator. I knocked on the door. Tyke was odd when it came to certain things, even the littlest things would pester him.

"WAIT!" he yelled from inside. I just rolled my eyes. The door flung open seconds after he spoke. He looked up, being two feet shorter than me. "LEO... what are you doing here?"

"Is Pronk home? I need to tell you something, big scoop."

"Oh, OHH COME IN! I'm all alone."

We both took a seat, he never bothered asking if you ever wanted anything, he wasn't the type who wanted you comfortable. His apartment was very tidy except for his desk which had his word processor in the center with stacks of paper strewn all over the place. He owned nice furniture despite not living in the nicest place in town. I sat in an easy chair while he lounged in his couch.

"SO what's the big scoop that Mr. Leo Lion's got on his mind?!"

"Well, its not the greatest of news."

"AHH! I knew you were tricking me, I shouldn't of let you in!"

"Ha, well I'm sure you're dying to know. So I talked to a sheep who's on city development."

"Don't know her, so, why's sheep relevant?"

"Well, she overheard a conversation between Swinton and Bellwether."

"DID SHE REALLY? Let's buy her some coffee and-"

"It's bad news, really."

"Ah yes, that. So what's going on?"

"Well its obvious they're working together."

"Bah I fucking hate the incumbents, they always make it more difficult."

"That's not it."

"Oh?"

"Well... um it's about the tame collars."

"Shit. Now... Leo, you know I'm... for anything you believe about them, d-don't get me wrong, just because I'm, y-you know, doesn't mean I'm afraid of a Zootopia without collars..."

"That's not the point, those bastards are trying to smear me! They want to make it seem like I want collars gone for good in my campaign."

"THOSE BASTARDS. FUCK. HOW DID I KNOW THEY'D PULL SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" I kind of cringed at him screaming at such a high volume, his neighbors must have really liked him.

"I think we're done for with this."

"LEO, do I need to fucking knock you out."

"Okay, sorry SORRY! I'm just getting a little emotional about this, my whole life is leading up to this and the fucking collars have to get in the way of it all over again!"

"Careful, yellow alert."

I sighed.

"Look, Leo. There's nothing we can do about this, the prey in this city are gullible, I'm sure some will come to your defense but most of them were already going to vote for Bellwether even before we got enough campaign contributions. She's been At-Large for years, hell even close to being Assistant Mayor if she hadn't of ran with that fool."

"Maybe it won't be so bad, I'm just worried about all the preds... What if some believe that bullshit, we'll get some angry mammals in our very base support."

"Oh god, yah. They get sensitive over that kind of stuff, god I feel so sorry for some of you guys, like you'd love to lose of the collars but in return it would just make everything so much more worse. I couldn't even imagine the psychological effects on preds if the collars were suddenly banned. Cheese and crackers, I couldn't even imagine the fight that the prey would put up. There would be SO much money behind it, even if you were publicly for it after you got into office, there would be absolutely NO way it could pass."

"I never thought of what it would be like without collars, I mean I accept them and all. It's just a condition of desegregation. I would much rather bound by this collar than be segregated. I would have never met you Tyke! I mean we're too young to remember it but my parents used to tell me prey were so much worse to preds back when the city first integrated. It's cooled down but if this get's into the public eye, it could make it just like it was."

"Man, I'm just thinking of the possibilities, Swinton definitely is in on this. SHE'S CRAZY! She just loves all of this drama. 'GET THE SCOOP, LEODORE LIONHEART SCANDAL, HE WANT'S COLLARS GONE, PREY FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES' She'll get so much response from it. Oh it's going to happen. Yeah I already see it. I know it, she'll announce it probably in a campaign ad, probably on TV. She might start on the Public Access, but ZNN might pick it up early. Hold on..." He reached for his desk phone and dialed a number quickly.

"MANNY! HEY IT'S NYLE. Yah... Hey, I'm wondering if you could do me a favor... I need you to watch for Bellwether ad requests... Probably on either Public Access or ZNN... Yeah... Whichever gets filed first... First you find it make sure you record it on the first screening... NO NO, I'll come over, don't you come over here... It's way too far for you to travel... Okay, thanks... Bye!" He threw the cordless phone across the room in another chair. "WE'RE IN GOOD HANDS LEO!"

"I thought you went by Tyke to everyone."

"There's a few people that I still go by Nyle. They're nostalgic of the good old days."

"I wouldn't of exactly of called them 'good'."

"AH! You don't know what you're talking about, it was fun back then, but I needed to stop, I would of been arrested if I went on any longer. What I do now is petty," he said with a big smile on his face.

"Oh you're too harsh on yourself."

"Okay well it's getting late, FRIDAY NIGHT! You need to go take a break tomorrow and do absolutely nothing and I MEAN IT!"

He got up and went towards the door.

"I couldn't have thanked you enough Tyke. You're the best. You wouldn't want to be in my administration?"

"OH GOD NO. I'd kill myself if I worked at city hall."

"Oh come on, nothing in finances?"

"You're pestering me, see you soon Leo. OH, before you go, I don't want to hear a single word from you tomorrow. YOU HEAR ME! I will call you on Sunday, early morning." Before I had a chance to say anything he closed the door behind me.

Great early morning meant around 6am, Tyke liked to start early and when he was up he was ready for everyone else to start working. I stepped over to the elevator and waited for it to slowly come up. As the bell rang for the door I heard a loud crash and muffled screaming from inside his apartment, "FUCK YOU BELLWETHER, FUCKING SHEEP SCUM." I quickly jumped into the elevator. He must have been angier about than this than I originally anticipated, usually he was great at hiding his emotions but there were a few that he just let flow free. The elevator slowly creaked down making a few bangs on its way. As I stepped out it was getting darker outside as the golden light from the sunset came through the front door.

日

I was somewhat far from my house so I needed to take the Inner Loop to the other side of downtown. Herd Street, where I live, is probably the nicest part of downtown. My family has owned a couple apartments and has rented to animals of all size, it was all we had. Getting mortgages as a predator was near impossible, most rented instead. We didn't exclusively rent to predators, but it seemed that every time a prey was interested the fact that their landlord was a predator always ended the deal. Our area was decently integrated mostly between larger prey animals and common predators. The area was originally a mistakenly plotted as a predator area as an 'addition' to Happy Town; however, urban planners accidentally plotted the wrong wrong blocks, almost 10 total blocks from the edge of Happy Town, one of the largest predator communities in all of Zootopia. Even to this day, almost 50 years after forced integration, it still had a 95% predator demographic.

Most of my friends from high school still lived in Happy Town, they could never dream of leaving because of the expense. It was unfortunate that they were stuck, a few became well off serving the community opening businesses but even they couldn't of dreamt leaving. Predators did feel an attachment to Happy Town for some reason, before integration, even moving between predator communities was difficult, a mess of paperwork and advising to make sure predators didn't somehow move into a prey community. After integration predators rapidly began moving to different predator communities, specifically Happy Town. The population there surged 90% between census records in 0180. Today Happy Town is very densely populated with a rich amount of historic buildings dating back to early Zootopia.

Maybe I ought to go to Crossings. One of my favorite bars, it was in the heart of Happy Town, an absolutely vile establishment but its where we've hung out since I was 19. I got on the Inner Loop once again and rode out to Central Happy Town, passing my stop for home, I'd have to take a night bus home. I walked down Guy Ezelle Blvd., the main street. Happy Town was well known for its nightlife, predators and prey came from all over Zootopia to have a party like no other every night, especially Friday nights. Music filled the street, rock, electronic, pop, jazz, anything you could think of. Mammals were desperate to make a Buck and they would try anything. Illegal bars and clubs were all over Happy Town despite the heavy police presence in the area. Entertainment was a prime commodity here, if you had talent bars would pay big money to have you come down for the night.

When I got there I walked into the dimly lit bar, it might of been darker inside of here than it was outside. Smoke filled the air, silhouettes of predators ears could be seen on the walls coming around the corner inside the main room. There was no doubt I'd see someone I knew in here. I looked around when my eyes spotted a very familiar pair of ears on top of a well made suit. I came up from behind and pulled the ear of the fox making him wince, it was my good friend John Wilde.

He looked up quickly, "OH MY GOD! Well if it isn't the Mayor of Zootopia."

"Oh you kid! How's my man?"

"Oh its going great, you know, I don't know what it is about this time of year, but there is always a huge demand for tailored suits. Must be the weather, still warm but its starting to get cold."

"You know what, I've got this odd feeling! This weather, I'm just itching for a new suit!" We both laughed out loud in the bar, completely muffled by the noise of everything else.

"Well, I got this new fabric in two days ago, right up your alley. You ought to come by if you're not too busy with the campaign."

"Actually I got orders from the man to take the day off tomorrow, so consider yourself lucky, I might just be down tomorrow."

"Speaking of the man, how's Tyke doing? Still madder than hell?"

"Oh I know right, he's still the same, just doing less illegal stuff these days... Uh don't tell anyone, just between you and me. He's running a bit of an extortion scheme for the campaign."

"HEY EVERY- HAA I'm just kidding! I'll tell you, I'm the least bit surprised, there's no way you'd get the donations otherwise. Fucking predators are too afraid to dump their money on someone they know won't win. But you sir are a different breed, what are those polls up to now?"

"Last I heard they were hovering around 46% for us."

"Cheese and crackers, Leo! It's what? A month until elections, this could really happen!"

"That's what I keep hearing."

"Oh come on with something like that there couldn't be a grain of doubt for the fact that you'd win! Is something going wrong?'

I looked at him for a while, his ears dropped, "It's... really awful actually. The other side is wanting to make it look like I want to ban the collars."

"Fuck."

"I think this is the end of the line. I mean Tyke is just going nuts over it acting like our numbers will skyrocket, but he just... He doesn't understand the sentiments that some mammals have about this."

"There possibly couldn't be a way to stop this?'

"Pfft, yeah if I dropped out. Not after this much work. I feel like we're just going to have to battle and hope most take it for a grain of salt.'

We sat in silence for a couple minutes

He interrupted reaching into his pocket, "Hey you want a drink, it's on me, here, take 5 Bucks."

"Thanks," I didn't say anything else, getting up over to the counter.

"How's your date tonight?" A well dressed Jaguar said.

"You're too funny, how about a Sierra Nevada Rabbit Brew."

"It's 2.50 for a cup, 5 Bucks for pint."

"I'll do a pint."

He went over to the draft and yelled back at me, "HEY HOW'S THE CAMPAIGN GOING?"

"OH IT'S GOING GREAT, DID YOU HEAR? THE LAST POLL WAS UP TO 46%."

He flipped around, "YOU'RE KIDDING ME. LEO, THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME..." He screamed at the top of his lungs, "HEY EVERYONE, LET'S WELCOME ZOOTOPIA'S FIRST FUCKIN' PRED MAYOR. THREE CHEERS FOR THE END OF PREY DICTATORSHIP!"

The bar filled with a roar as mammals slammed the tables and yelled as loud as they could. The noise shook the walls. A group of four police officers came running into the bar with their megaphones and guns pointed into the crowd "KEEP IT DOWN FUCKING PREDS, WE DON'T WANT ANY TROUBLE." They inspected the completely silent bar for a solid minute. Three officers flung their lights around everywhere inspecting every single predator in the bar. All four with their arms willing to wield their guns. Most predators became desensitized to police officers because of the constant interaction, but even in scenarios like these being in large crowds still made me uncomfortable.

Just as the door closed I yelled pointing at the door, "AND THAT'S THE FIRST THING I'LL FIX!" Instantly the bar erupted into a roar again, some predators collars went off either from their excitement or from yelling too loudly. I sheepishly looked around hoping the officers wouldn't come back in.

The Jaguar came over with my pint, "It's on the house, FOR FREEDOM!"

I walked back over to where John was, "Way to cause trouble, you're worse than me!." As I sat down he looked at me with a huge grin, "Now you better not be getting yourself in trouble, these guys are depending on you." He laughed punching me in the shoulder.

"I have a feeling they're going to be deeply disappointed in the next coming weeks..."

日

After a long two hours at the bar I decided to go to the bus station, I didn't drink too much, only two pints. The bus station was dimly lit with a few predators waiting on the bright green benches. The transit center was long with a parking garage underneath. Glass bricks lined the walls on the inside of the transit center. After about 10 minutes multiple night buses pulled in. My route went right in front of my house, N190. It pulled in with about 15 other mammals on it. Quickly the station filled with people from all over the city. Mostly degenerate predators were riding at night, either going to their late night jobs or coming late to one of many bars in Happy Town. A few larger prey animals were scattered in the crowds, it was rare to see smaller prey using public transit at night because of the fear of being assaulted by predators and even other prey. It was a huge public safety issue, night buses were the worst. The ZTA had to hire an officer for almost every single night bus by order from city hall in order to make night transit safer for prey.

I stepped into the double decker bus. The lower part was for larger mammals and the upper for smaller. The fare was expensive as hell, 7 Bucks for a ride through two zones. I sat in the bus for another 10 minutes before it departed. As we drove out of Happy Town the bus only stopped twice to let people off. After a couple minutes we turned turned onto Sycamore Avenue, my street. I pulled the bell cord, the bus came to a quick stop as I was getting up. When I got off the only noise outside was the bus pulling away. My building was directly across the street. My family owned the entire building, 'Preston Arms'. Rent was free for family members but I was the only one other than my brother who actually lived in the building.

My apartment, on the first floor, was one of the smallest in the entire building, only around 700 square feet. It was a complete mess. I hadn't been in my apartment for longer than an 8 hour period in the last 2 months because of the campaign. I fiddled with the deadbolt until it unlocked. I stepped into the front room that had an arching hallway towards the main room. I was on the corner of the building so I had windows in every single room. I looked at the clock, it was 01:00. I walked through the hallway through the main room into the kitchen in the back passing my small bedroom on the left. I grabbed a glass and opened the fridge and filled it with water from the water purifier. I took a big swig, I hated being even the slightest bit hungover in the morning. I placed the glass back onto the shelf above the sink. Everything in my house was original, built back in 0160 the building was 70 years old.

I slowly walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth trying not to get the toothpaste in my mane. As I spit out the toothpaste and washing my mouth out with water I looked into the mirror. I took a deep breath. God only knows what I've gotten myself into, this might as well be the end of the line.

I struggled to go to sleep, if only tomorrow could be any worse.

* * *

Please critique me! I'm a terrible writer.


	2. 29 Days Morning

Inclined to T.A.M.E. is brought to you by: The Corporation for Public Fanfictioning, The Cat T. McArthur Foundation, William T. Barker Foundation, Majority Male Zootopian Redditors Who Enjoy Shipping Foundation, and from mammals like you, thank you.

Sorry this took so long to get out, multiple things happened to me! First of all I joined the Zootopia Discord which took my sole and then started an original 2D animation project for Zystopia, so riddle me busy! A good amount of this was written on a train in Oregon so consider yourself lucky. I would had of posted this earlier if I had internet, hehe.

* * *

 **29 Days Before Elections**

I awoke to some loud banging at my door, what could possibly be going on? I struggled to get some clothing on, my head wasn't straight. I came to the door and peered through the hole, it was Tyke. I undid the lock and opened the door. He came barging right in almost running in circles.

"Tyke, what the hell, why do you always do this to me? Can't you just—"

"LEO… BELLWETHER FILED THE AD, LAST NIGHT... AND IT'S AIRING TODAY AT 9AM."

"Oh, it's earlier than 9am…"

"THIS IS NO JOKING MATTER, WE NEED TO GO. NOW"

"Wait WHAT!? I'm just in a t-shirt and—"

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE WE ARE GOING TO MANNY'S PLACE," he grabbed my arm and started pulling me out of my apartment.

"FUCK, TYKE. LET ME GET MY KEYS."

"OGGH, YOU AND YOUR FUCKIN' KEYS."

I looked at him straight in the eyes, this clearly has been messing with him since I told him. His eyes were blood red, probably for multiple reasons. I moved over to my desk and picked them up. "Come on, 'fuck face', let's go."

He paced quickly down the hallway as I closed my door. I felt sorry for my neighbors, hopefully they didn't get woken up by him. As soon as I stepped away from my door he flung around and went for the door to outside. I tried catching up with him but he was running nearly as fast as he could.

"TYKE, slow down!"

"Well since you've given up on the campaign, I guess it's JUST ME now!"

"I haven't given up on the campaign, I'm just… worried." He slowed his pace. I caught up with him quickly, "Tyke, be honest with me, what's the matter?"

He stared straight forwards with an extremely stern look on his face. He said nothing.

After another two minutes of brisk walking we made it to the Overground station. I scanned my card through the turnstile, Tyke jumped over the turnstile behind me.

"Tyke, what are you doing!?" I whispered angrily at him.

"I forgot my wallet okay! It's too early for them to be watching anyway."

Everything was adding up, "Oh no, don't tell me… You're not doing—"

"OKAY GOD…" He looked in complete condemnation at his hands, his eyes tearing up. "I... I… took a shot of… Hexo last night."

I grabbed my nose, we had been through this before. Tyke had been a chronic drug abuser back in his 20s. It wasn't until he had his kid that he ever tried stopping. "Okay," I sighed heavily, "let's get going."

"Y-you're not mad at me, are you?'

"Look, I don't know where you got that stuff, but it better be gone by the end of the day. I don't you running up walls all day long, you're my fucking campaign manager. I need you on your top game. Come on there's a train coming in less than a minute!"

He looked really hard into my eyes, hesitating for a while. "Sure."

We started walking up the stairs into the station. After we got to the top step the announcement for the next train came. "So where's this 'Manny' live anyways?"

"Meadowlands, far north. Takes forever to get up there, it's a 40 minute train ride."

"Great..."

We got onto the train and took a seat, fortunately we got on early enough that there weren't too many mammals on the train. As the train pulled out of the station buildings right against the tracks started to blur by. The sky was completely clear with a slight tint of smog.

We rode down to Happy Town to transfer down into the subway station. Fortunately you didn't need to use your card again until you got off the system, otherwise Tyke would have been caught here. The police presence in the station was unbelieveable.

"SIR, we're going to need to ask you to step over here, we need to check that you have your collar on." A zebra police officer yelled right as we got off the train. They did random checks on predators but I often was asked because my collar hid underneath my mane. I suddenly got worried, shit, what if I took my collar off last night. Tyke rushed me out of my apartment so quickly I didn't have a chance to check. I looked at Tyke, he gave me a very concerning look as he opened his eyelids all the way showing the edges of his bloodshot eyes. I started to sweat as I walked over to the officers. "Alright, are you willing to show us your collar sir?"

"Y-yes," I stuttered. I reached into my mane, oh thank everything good in the world, it was still on me. I pulled it up showing them the main component of the collar, they noted the yellow light. They scanned the barcode on my collar, why were they doing that? They only scanned your barcode when you came for collar checks or didn't have your I.D. on you.

"Okay we have a couple of questions we're going to ask you. First, how often do you leave your house without your collar, please be honest with us, we're conducting a survey." The officer looked at me with a very sincere face.

"Oh never! My career would be put on the line if I ever stepped out of my house without my collar on!"

"Hm, it must be easy to forget about it under that mane of yours." He slightly broke character, "Uh, okay second question, when was the last time your collar was inspected?"

I honestly didn't remember, "Uh I think around... maybe late September, I needed to get an extension because of work related conflicts."

"Alright, a-and last question, has your collar been acting odd recently?"

I turned my head, "Odd? What do you mean?"

The officer looked up, "Uh, like, has it been shocking you randomly or dying?"

I hesitated for a while, why were they asking me this? "I... I don't think anything odd has been going on with my collar."

"Alright thank you for complying, Mr. Lionheart. Good luck on your campaign." He suddenly said.

I gave them a nice smirk as I walked away. I came back over to Tyke letting out a huge breath opening my eyes huge.

Tyke looked even worse, "Fuck me, um... Leo, I-I... I'm so sorry. I shouldn't-"

"Something's up, I was just asked by those officers a bunch of questions AND they scanned my barcode!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyke said after we started for the elevator down to the subway station.

"Well you know, I'm not to sure. They seemed investigative, like they were gathering information. They asked me if my collar was acting odd." I said as I reached for it under my mane.

"Hmm, hopefully it doesn't have to do with Swinton." He looked extremely suspicious into the abyss.

We eventually made it down into the subway station, we'd get on the Green Line, which ran from Savanna Central all the way to Peak Street. Our train conveniently came as we were walking onto the platform. There were considerably more mammals on this train than the last. I let Tyke sit down since it seemed like he was getting ready to doze off. The train was dimly lit inside, the same type train I had rode on last night. This one was more bumpier than the last, the lights flickered every so often. Most of the mammals were tired looking, unhappy with their lives. Almost all prey. I could only spot about 3 other predators in the car, each of the collars glowing in the dim train car. We really were a minority, the predator population sat around 2 million whereas the prey population was more around 18 million. If there was a predator uprising we would be outnumbered 9:1.

There had only been two uprisings in the past, the first was more global and than just Zootopia based, but the second was specifically Zootopia. It was the end of segregation. Predators who we are taught as heroes today in school who saved the city from degrading segregation. They demanded equal living to prey but prey were too afraid of predators being their neighbors. Civil unrest broke out in the city for over a month before predators leaders were able to strike a deal with prey and the city. A technology that stemmed from feudal societies in the East, T.A.M.E. collars were derived from early shock collars. They were intended to be more advanced in a way to detect a predator's change in emotions in terms of aggression. They would check for blood pressure changes. If there was a spike the collar would give a shock to remind the predator to stop before they hurt anyone. It was at first embraced by a lot of predators, prey were still suspicious however. It was agreed upon that predators didn't need to wear them in originally predator communities or in their own homes anywhere else. Tensions built between predator and prey for fears that predators could easily leave their homes without collars. After years of violence and protesting from prey an amendment was made to the T.A.M.E. Law that forbid predators from being outside of their private homes without wearing their collars.

We finally pulled into the Peak Street station, the station was completely full of mammals. I struggled to get Tyke to follow me, he constantly lagged behind. I had to ask him before he fell asleep for good, "HEY, WHAT TRAIN TO WE TAKE AND WHERE DO WE GET OFF?!"

He starred down at the floor for a while before responding very quietly, "Uh... take, the Meadowland Express... mm, get off at... um, Ottumwa."

Boy he looked awful, I tried dragging him through the station but eventually it got the point where he was almost falling over on the ground. Oh no am I going to have to carry him to the train... Well that brings back memories...

 **9 Years Ago...**

It was late at night, I was walking through the Grotto, it was an easy shortcut to my house from the coffee shop. My favorite place, good food, good coffee, good customers, the triple crown. The Grotto was the worst part of Happy Town, predators who had even the slightest amount of money could find something more suitable than here. Certain parts were okay, especially in the less dense areas; however, when you were in the heavily populated areas you had to guard your own things with your life. I was just approaching the worst area, Drought Street. An awful name and quite unfitting to an area known for its month long flooding.

Fortunately I didn't have much on me, only a couple dollars after I spent most of it on food and a minimal amount of accessories. The only thing worth money was my clothing, but they usually didn't take that from you. I made my way down another block until I saw a group of predators yelling some kind of profanity in a circle.

I should probably avoid this, who knows what they are doing, hopefully it wasn't to another mammal. I took a right and walked around the block. As I continued down the sidewalk my curiosity got the best of me. What could they really be doing? I made my way around the block and came back exactly one block over from where I was. I peeked around the corner, nobody was there anymore. I squinted my eyes, the sidewalk was so dark. As my eyes adjusted it became apparent that someone was there, someone on the ground. I walked over really quickly. "Uh, h-hey are you okay!?" The mammal was sitting there in a puddle of blood, my eyes opened wide. "OH MY GOD!"

The mammal with antlers moaned on his back. "T-they just came up to me and started beating me... then, then they just started yelling. I didn't do anything wrong..."

"I, uh. Y-you need to go to the hospital, my god, you're going to die!" I looked around frantically, no phones anywhere. Think Leo! Where the hell is a phone around here!? Goddammit if I don't find one soon he's going to die laying here. I just froze there, I had to do something, I can't just let him lay here to die! I crouched down to him, "What's your name!?"

He moved barely, it looked like he was pointing at his pocket. I hesitated starring into his weak eyes. "J-just get my ID."

I reached for his pocket trying to be careful not to hurt his thigh. His pockets were tight but I managed to grab it with the end of my claw. I pulled it out carefully and opened it up. I could barely read his ID, it was too dark. "Is it... Myle?"

He groaned, "No... Nyle," looking down at his chest.

"Oh I apologize, Nyle. Um, I think... I'm going to have to carry you to the nearest hospital..." I looked at him waiting for approval but he didn't say a word, didn't show a single emotion. I took a deep breath, well either his blood will kill him or me picking him up will so might as well take a chance. I put my hand underneath his soaked back and lifted him slightly. He groaned loudly. Shit, how am I going to do this without hurting him. I kept going, I have to, there is no option. Every move I made he just looked at me in agony. His eyes were almost bloodshot from the pain that came from his hurt body.

I finally got my arms completely around him and began to pick him up. He was about the same height as me but weighed much less fortunately. We were both young, seemed to be in our early 20's. He wreaked, he must have been doing something before this. I wondered why they beat him? The nearest hospital to us was around 8 blocks away. I started to briskly walk in the general direction I thought it was trying not to bump him up and down too much. I asked him quietly, "do you know where this hospital is?"

He looked around, presumably trying to find a street sign, "yeah, we're going the right way." He struggled to breathe.

I was curious, I had to ask. "Do you come over here a lot?"

He didn't say anything for a while, "...Yeah I'm probably," he took a weak breathe, "the only prey who comes here."

I didn't say anything else. I continued to carry him for another 8 blocks, there it was. The hospital was simply named 'Swedish'. One of the best predator hospitals in the city. The building was massive. Like Happy Town, this hospital brought in predators from all over the city, even from the outside. The hospital was famous for its collar shock treatments, certainly they could handle something this bad.

I found the Emergency Room, a paramedic was standing outside of an ambulance and saw me holding Nyle. He immediately ran over to the door to open it for us, I simply said, "Thanks," with a smile. We walked to the main desk, the receptionist completely unphased by what was in front of him. He picked up a phone to call somebody.

"Hello, new patient. He's very bloody, probably physical trauma... Yes, get a covered bed, the man who brought him in is soaked." He hung up the phone with the same attitude as before. He looked up at me, "Sir, do you know this man's name?"

I looked down, "Yes I do, but his ID is in my pocket."

He looked back down at his desk, "I see, they will be here shortly with the bed."

We waited for a few minutes. Nyle's blood was dripping on the floor. Man my clothing was ruined, but what did that matter, I had to save this man's life. Finally the bed came through the door, nurses were covered in protective gear to not get blood over themselves. They laid him down carefully on the bed, Nyle must of been close to being unconscious by now, he showed little reflex as they laid him down.

I walked over to the receptionist. "Here is his ID, I have no relation to him, I just happened to see him getting beaten on the street."

"Okay, Nyle Viley Oryx... 23... Oryx... Hazel Eyes..." the receptionist went on talking to himself as he copied down the information. "May I ask your name sir?"

"Yes, it's L-e-o-d-o-r-e, last name L-i-o-n-h-e-a-r-t."

"And you didn't know any other witnesses of the incident?" Turning a page.

"I couldn't see, it was too dark, but I doubt I knew any of them."

"Okay we will record you as a witness to the event and you will be able to return to check on his condition. We will try to inform his family, is there anything else that you need Mr. Lionheart?" He asked in the same boring voice.

"No I think I'm fine, thank you." The conversation ended on an odd note, but I felt it wasn't necessary to pander about his condition with the receptionist. I turned around and looked at my reflection in the window. I was absolutely soaked, great.

The walk home was slightly awkward being covered in blood, thank god I never ran into an officer otherwise I would've had to of done a lot of explaining.

日

Days after the incident I kept coming back to the hospital to check on Nyle, his recovery was rough. Terrible injuries around his lounges almost made one collapse. Four broken ribs pressed against his lungs and other vital organs. The amount of blood lost that night was extremely dangerous, head he lost just half a pint more of blood his brain would have reached the threshold of too little oxygen. The combination of bleeding and restricted breathing made his chances of survival extremely slim; however, he managed to make it through. The days leading as I came to visit this man he slowly began to grow on me. He was indebted to me for saving his life, I didn't feel that way, but he took it with complete seriousness.

After a couple of days I learned more about his personality, he got agitated quiet easily which often led to yelling, he was extremely intelligent, he lived as a con man siphoning money from people through the use of a Ponzi scheme. He told me all about it, at first I didn't believe him, somebody as young as him, making that immense amount of money. He payed for all of his care out of pocket, no need for installments. I never bothered to ask how much money he made per year, me simply knowing it meant he would have to kill me. Never would I of imagined that this accidental friend of mine would soon become my campaign manager in a pipe-dream of a campaign.

* * *

Hi sweethearts! Hope you're enjoying, things are going to go way downhill from here, so if you don't enjoy dark stuff too much... Hmm... get high I guess. This wasn't as long as I anticipated it to be but the mixture of distractions that I had and the difficult of typing on a bumpy train makes it quite aggravating to write what I had hoped to be 5000 words; however, this should suffice fine enough.

Please critique me! This is my first, real, story.


End file.
